Book News and Reviews 



175 



'Additions to the Avifauna of the Pribilof 

 Islands, Alaska, Including Four Species 

 New to North America' by G. D. Hanna, 

 treats of that far northern island region 

 where East meets West with a strange 

 mingling of bird possibilities. 



A 'Revision of South American Crested 

 Quails' by Todd is illustrated with a 

 frontispiece color plate of the heads of 

 eight birds and distributional maps. 

 Other papers of technical systematic in- 

 terest contain the description of a new 

 form of North American Black Duck, resi- 

 dent in the Rio Grande Valley of New 

 Mexico, by Wharton Huber; a refutation 

 by Swarth of the proposal by J. D. Figgins 

 that two forms only of the Canada Goose, 

 a large and a small one, be recognized, in- 

 termediate birds to be considered hybrids; 

 and a fifth annual list of proposed changes 

 in the A. 0. U. Check-List, by Oberholser. 



In this number the 'General Notes' con- 

 tain many interesting habit instances, 

 records of unusual occurrences, and other 

 matter. Recent differentiation of the New- 

 foundland breeding race of the Red Cross- 

 bill has enabled Bent to follow extensive 

 wandering of birds from that limited re- 

 gion. Observations by A. A. Saunders 

 indicate that, after a period of several 

 years of abundance, the destructive t-ent 

 caterpillar (ordinarily relished only by 

 Cuckoos) was destroyed in great numbers 

 in the spring of 191 7 by the chance coinci- 

 dence of the great spring flight of Warblers, 

 Thrushes, and other insectivorous birds, 

 which, in the comparative absence of other 

 insect food, preyed upon the caterpillars. — • 

 J. T. N. 



Wilson Bulletin. — The December, 

 1919, number contains an interesting 

 article by N. HoUister on 'Some Changes in 

 Summer Bird-Life at Delavan, Wis.', the 

 summer of 1919 being compared with in- 

 tensive field work from 1888-1902. Mr. 

 HoUister records the entire disappearance 

 of Foster's Tern, Upland Plover, and 

 Ruffed Grouse. The Hawks, Pied-billed 

 Grebe, Wood Duck, Nighthawk, Bluebird, 

 Thrasher, Barn and Cliff Swallows, and 

 Chipping Sparrow have decreased more 



or less markedly, while certain Ducks and 

 smaller land-birds have greatly increased. 

 Mr. HoUister C9ncludes that the gradual 

 advance of civilization will result in the 

 extreme abundance of those species which 

 possess the greatest adaptability and the 

 ultimate disappearance of the balance of 

 the original avifauna, a conclusion amply 

 endorsed by experience in Europe over a 

 much greater extent of time. Two local 

 lists and some General Notes conclude 

 the issue. 



'The Birds of Wakulla County, Fla.,' by 

 John Williams, is of particular interest as 

 coming from the pen of an experienced 

 ornithologist, dealing with a territory 

 which the reviewer believes to be the 

 richest in bird-life in eastern North 

 America. 



In the March, 1920, number, John Wil- 

 liams continues his 'List of Birds of 

 Wakulla County, Fla.' He records the 

 Willet as a summer resident, while the 

 reviewer has recorded the Western Willet 

 in winter, purely on the ground of geo- 

 graphic probabilities. Neither of us seems 

 to have taken specimens or at least to 

 have compared them carefully — an excel- 

 lent illustration of a case where sight 

 records are of no scientific value, when two 

 equally conscientious observers come to 

 opposite conclusions on a priori evidence. 

 At present two races are definitely recorded 

 from the same locality, neither having any 

 definite claim to admission. The fact re- 

 mains that northwest Florida is about 

 half-way between the known breeding 

 limits of the two races, and breeding birds 

 from there should be carefully determined, 

 as no matter which race they are referred 

 to, the breeding range of that race will be 

 altered in the next A. O. U. Check-List. 

 Harry C. Oberholser contributes a brief 

 synopsis of the genus Thryomanes, describ- 

 ing as new T. bewickii ariborius from 

 Agassiz, British Columbia. An article on an 

 early Bluebird migration in 191 7, in Iowa, 

 by Howard Clark Brown, another on the 

 Raptores of Nelson County, Ky., by Ben 

 J. Blincoe, an account of the Annual 

 Meeting of the Club, and the Membership 

 Roll complete the issue. — L. G. 



